


A piece of woman advice

by BloodyFlammable



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Women, Christmas Fluff, First Kiss, Getting Together, HP: EWE, Intervention, M/M, Snow, Yule Ball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-10 23:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8944282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodyFlammable/pseuds/BloodyFlammable
Summary: Harry attends the ministry Yule ball all by himself because he hadn't got the guts to ask Draco out.Draco attends the ministry Yule ball with Pansy because Harry hadn't got the guts to aks him out.Luna, Hermione and Pansy decide they need an intervention.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, a little gift for the holidays! Hope you'll enjoy.
> 
> Special thanks to my sister who helped me get through Luna <3
> 
> The whole thing is unbeta'ed regarding the langage. I'm not exactly fluent in english, I apologise beforehand for any mistake you could find!

As planned, the evening was a complete disaster.

As if coming all by himself to the ministry Yule ball wasn't enough, Harry had had to suffer the sorry looks on Ron and Hermione's faces, the assaults of no less than five eager witches under the charmed mistletoe, and on top of it, Draco had showed up with Pansy fucking Parkinson sticking charmed to his arm.

The git was breathtaking, of course.

He was wearing the most fitting outfit Harry had ever seen. The fabric of the robes was somehow glowing under the candle light in a soft grey that matched Draco's eyes. The white waistcoat, embroidered in sophisticated patterns, was closed by a delicate golden chain which Harry had wanted to catch from the moment he had seen it. The whole thing was leaving no room to imagination, which was really dangerous because Harry had seen what was hidden behind the outrageous get-up. Oh, he had seen it. Several times in the Auror’s locker rooms.

To add insults to injury, the snow was refusing to fall.

It wasn't like Harry had been subtle about his feelings.

He had hinted his lack of date for the evening every day or so at the office. He had even asked Draco about his plans several times. Every fucking time, Draco had said he wasn't sure yet.

And still there he was, waltzing with a woman who Harry thought was his friend a few hours ago, the fucking traitor. And he was perfect doing so. Of course, he was.

After their third fucking astonishing dance and at least as many glasses of champagne for Harry, he had decided he had enough and had left for the balcony.

And here he was, fucking freezing, waiting for a snow that wasn't coming.

He was angry at Draco for being so charming and funny and nice and so fucking perfect that Harry had had no choice but to fall heels over tits for the prat.  
  
Harry was angry for having let himself hope.  
  
But if he was entirely honest, he was also a bit glad for not having made a fool of himself by asking Draco to the ball. After all, Harry had had left enough clues, the quafle was in Draco's hands. His coming with Parkinson tonight was his answer, and it was alright. Harry much preferred this way than the humiliating acknowledgement of Draco's lack of interest as he would have answered that no, thank you very much, he'd rather come to the ball with a troll than Harry Potter.

And why would Draco Malfoy be interested in him, really?

Even if he had shown interest in men before, that didn't mean he was interested in Harry. They had hated one another for seven years for Merlin's sake, that wasn't something easy to forget.

The man was a walking ministry fundraiser all by himself and Harry was, well, just Harry.

Now, if that wasn't enough, what could he do?

Harry finished his glass of champagne. He didn't even like the taste and, truth be told, the fizz made him a little dizzy.

"It's not snowing," said a dreamy voice behind him.

Harry turned and smiled fondly. Luna was exactly what he needed.

"No it's not. It should be, though, according to the weather bloke."

"Oh, it will. The snargalufs had begun to seep," she said, her dreamy eyes scanning the sky.

Harry's smile widened. Exactly what he needed. He leaned and kissed her cheek.

"You look stunning tonight, Luna." She really did. Her dress robes were a bright blue shade and if not for the huge silver suns all over the place, Harry would have said they were elegant. She was wearing those moving silver... things in her hair and that only made up for the absence of her usual homemade jewellery. She was indeed stunning.

"Thanks," she grinned, "You're not half bad yourself. Now, come inside before you catch chilblain on your testicles."

Ignoring Harry's awkward cough, she reached for his hand and pulled him in.

The inside turned out to be very loud and somehow not so warm.

Draco was nowhere to be seen.

And so was Pansy. Harry’s stomach made an unpleasant loop at the thought that perhaps they were snogging in a dark alcove.

Harry chased the all too vivid mental image from his mind. He was going to enjoy the evening.

He put his glass down the closest buffet.

"Care for a dance, Luna?"

She grinned and took the offered hand, "always, Harry."

The music was a fast rock, and Harry didn’t know the steps, so instead he reached for Luna's waist and did his best to follow her as she began to sway her hips along her own tempo.

Harry didn’t notice Draco and Pansy coming back into the Ball room. He hadn’t spy on them arguing quietly. He certainly didn’t heard Pansy call Draco a ‘fucking stubborn unable to read between the lines’ before leaving him alone with his glass of champagne. At all.

Therefore, considering that he was absolutely concentrated on Luna and their ongoing dance, his answer to Luna’s question was perfectly relevant.

“Is that so? That’s not how I would have qualified the capture of a baby Thestral. Sad, maybe. Worrying, probably. But brilliant, certainly not.”

Harry blushed and refocused his attention to her.

“It’s alright, Harry, I know you weren’t paying attention,” she smiled. Their dance had become very slow and yet very muddled. Luna seemed to enjoy herself nonetheless. “Maybe we should kiss under the mistletoe, if you want to make him jealous.”

“What? No, that’s not- I don’t – He’s not-“ Harry’s cheeks were burning now.

There was no point denying while facing those big blue eyes.

“He wouldn’t care, Luna.” Even to his own ears, he had sound all but detached.

“Wouldn’t he?”

When she started to turn round and round with her arms upraised, Harry understood she wasn’t about to elaborate.

“Why do you say that?”

He took Luna’s hand and stopped her spinning around. She seemed confused for a second.

“Oh,“ she shrugged. “It’s kinda obvious, you know?”

It wasn’t obvious at all, in Harry’s opinion, but he wasn’t going to argue with Luna. Instead, he took both her hands and began to sway his hips like she did at first.

“Anyway, we’re not going to do that,” he said after a moment. “Plus, the mistletoe is probably infested with nargles,” he added with a wink.

She nodded seriously and said, “Now, Harry, you’re starting to make sense again.”

He tilted his head back and laughed heartily. He suddenly felt warm inside, and that had nothing –absolutely nothing- to do with Draco’s gaze he just caught.

After a few more songs, Harry called it quits.

As he made for the buffet, resolutely ignoring Draco standing all by himself with a strange look on his face and a half-empty glass of champagne, he was intercepted by a red-cheeked and a bit dishevelled Hermione.

“What’s up, Harry?” She also seemed a little breathless, and that was weird because Harry was positive she wasn’t on the dancefloor a few minutes ago.

“Oh, you know,” he waved sheepishly, “the usual.”

“You know you’re supposed to have fun to those parties.” She gave him a very Hermione-y look and Harry hurried to consider the hors-d’oeuvres on the table. Oh look, these tiny burgers looked yummy.

Hermione seemed to think the same, because she grabbed Harry’s hand halfway to his mouth, stole the burger, and shoved it to her own mouth. “Hey! That was rude!”

She giggled and shrugged, giving him her best puppy look, “You know I eat for two now.”

Harry softened at the thought and looked to Hermione’s belly. She had started to show a few weeks ago and was absolutely radiant.

Harry kissed Hermione’s cheek. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, gee, not you too,” she rolled her eyes, “I’m fabulous, thanks.” She smiled. “But enough with my wellbeing, you’re supposed to have fun we were saying. Why won’t you go and ask someone for a dance? You could ask, I don’t know… Malfoy?” She raised her eyebrow in a suggestive way.

Harry snorted. Hermione had always been rubbish when it came to subtlety.

“He’s not interested, I think it’s pretty clear.”

She rewarded Harry with another eye-rolling. “You don’t know that Harry, you just assumed he’s not interested because he hasn’t made the first move.”

Harry considered the thought a few moments. Hermione was right, of course, Draco never explicitly said no to Harry, but that didn’t mean he was interested either.

Lost in his mind, Harry distantly scanned the room. He frowned at the sight of about twenty witches and wizards in circle around… Draco and Luna, robot-dancing. If Harry had to be honest, they were quite good. Even when he was moving his arms like they were some dead parts of his body, Draco managed to look sexy.

When they finished their dance and had bowed to their admirers, Harry refocused his attention to Hermione who was apparently in a very serious internal debate over which appetizer to choose. “And what makes you think he’d say yes?”

Hermione put down a pumpkin muffin and raised an eyebrow. “Please, Harry, give yourself a little credit.”

And just like that, she was gone.

Admittedly, Harry didn’t recall a single time where Hermione had turned up wrong, but that didn’t mean she was right this time. Maybe her hormones were messing up her thinking capacity.

Yes, that must be it. There was no way Draco liked him. He would have said something, he would have responded in some way to Harry’s flirtation.

And if Harry was sure of anything, it was that Draco hadn’t once flirted with him.

Harry poured himself a cup of pumpkin juice. He had lost the count of champagne glasses he had had, to be honest, but he was pretty sure he had too much. He was starting to see things. Like this crocked smile Draco was giving him right now.

Harry blushed, and quickly turned his gaze away.

The whole room was beautiful, of course. Everything was either white or gold. Some fake snow was falling from the ceiling but didn’t reach the guests. At least, it was snowing somewhere, Harry thought as he glanced through the huge windows. The landscape was still snow-free.

After what felt like a reasonable amount of time, Harry brought back his gaze on his favourite blonde and met Draco’s eyes for a second before he looked away shyly. His cheeks were an unnerving shade of pink.

Merlin, he was cute.

Harry resisted the urge to do something really stupid, like, follow Hermione’s advice, and held his head high as he left the room through the great entrance.

He leaned against a wall, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The music was significantly quieter here, even though the doors were wide open.

Not for the first time, he wondered how and when he had fallen in love with Draco Malfoy.

And not for the first time, he came to the conclusion that he really didn’t care, given that his feelings were a whole pain in the ass. They were more and more difficult to ignore by the day.

He was pulled out of his reverie after a few minutes by a firm grab of his wrist. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself following a pink furry through the hallway.

“Pansy, stop, your hurting me,” he gasped.

“Oh, please, you baby,” she spoke quickly through her gritted teeth.

He didn’t respond because an angry Pansy is a scary Pansy, Harry had learned that throughout the years that had led to a weird, unhealthy and yet strong friendship.

They stopped in a cosy little alcove furnished with comfy-looking bench and, oh god, more mistletoe.

She pushed Harry who didn’t have any other choice than to fall on the banquette and she raised an accusatory finger towards him.

“You listen to me, idiot,” she never had been more intimidating. Harry tried to disappear into the cushions. “I don’t know why you haven’t yet, you coward Gryffindor, but you have to make a move,” Harry had no idea what she was talking about. “Fucking now.”

Harry gave her his best kitten look. “What did I do, again?” Being friend with that woman was exhausting.

“Exactly nothing, you moron! Draco is giving me crazy!” She made big gestures with her hands and began to pace before Harry.

He raised both eyebrows. “What about Draco?”

“Make your fucking move! Ask him to dance, kiss him under the mistletoe, offer him to lick pumpkin juice on your belly, whatever.” She was dangerously close now. “Just.” She poked Harry’s forehead with her index. “Do.” Another poke. “Something.” Harry’s head was starting to hurt now.

Harry pushed her hand away and frowned. “And why on earth would he accept to do… any of this with me? I’m not the one he came with tonight!”

Pansy rubbed her eyes and mumbled, “Salazar’s balls, one would give the fucking Saviour some thinking abilities.” She took his chin between her fingers. “He came with me as a last resort, because _you,_ “ she emphasised the word with another poke, “haven’t had the guts to properly _ask_ him.”

Harry gave her a dubious look. “If that’s the case, why hadn’t he said something?”

“Please, we’re talking about Draco.” She raised a matter-of-fact eyebrow. _Of course she had a matter-of-fact eyebrow._ “You have to make the first move.”

Harry bit his lower lip. He hated when Pansy was right. “What if he says no?”

“Gee, you’re the fucking Gryffindor.” She put the back of her hand on her forehead. “Find out by yourself!”

Harry took a moment to toy with the idea. “Do you think he likes me?”

She shrugged. “Miracles do happen, you know,” she gave him a sly grin, “Christmas spirit and all.”

Pansy was standing in front of him, arms crossed. She was wearing a beautiful pink dress, fine stiletto and had her hair stylized in big curls on her shoulders. She was absolutely beautiful, not that Harry would ever admit that.

Suddenly, she took Harry’s hands in hers and pulled him, effortlessly, onto both feet. How could such a tiny thing have so much strength and what was it about mistreatment tonight?

She hit him on the bum. “Shoo! Go fulfil your destiny!”

Harry bit his lips, leaned to kiss Pansy's cheek and turn his heels.

Pansy watched Harry walk all the way to the great entrance. When he stopped in front of the huge doors, he gave her one last look, and she gratified him with two thumbs up.

He could do that.

He had defeated Voldemort, and locked up several villains since then, he had even vanquished a dragon, for Godric’s sake! He could do that. He could just approach Draco, forget his damaged pride and just… ask him to dance. Or whatever.

And if Draco said no, well, at least he would find out once and for all.

Harry took a few seconds to adjust himself before entering.

The band was playing a slow and the dancefloor was crowded with couples. Harry noted with relief that Draco wasn’t part of the dance. He wasn’t even in the room.

Harry spotted Ron at the buffet which was now serving deserts.

Luna was dancing with a witch Harry didn’t know and Hermione was coming this instant from the balcony. She walked directly to Ron and took the cake he was about to eat.

Harry laughed. At least, he wasn’t the only one to be abused by the women in his life tonight.

As Harry approached them, Hermione smiled to Harry, tilted her head towards the balcony, mouthed "he's waiting for you" and winked.

Harry thanked her with a shy smile and went outside.

Draco was indeed there, leaning against the balustrade, looking away.

The moon ray was giving his hair a graceful shade of silver. It was a shame Harry couldn’t see his eyes, because he was sure they were equally beautiful.

As if alerted by some invisible force, Draco turned his head. A slow smile appeared on his lips and Harry missed a breath.

“Hi,” Harry said softly.

“Hi,” answered Draco.

His cheeks noticeably reddened as he looked away and all of a sudden, it stroked Harry. The girls were right. Draco had wanted for him to make a move and now he was upset and it was all Harry’s fault.

He came closer and said quietly, “I should have asked you out tonight. I wanted to, I just…”

Draco raised an eyebrow and smirked. “You’re just an idiot.”

“So I’ve been told,” he whispered as he leaned even closer. “What can I do to make amend?”

They were a few inches away now and Harry felt Draco’s hot breath on his lips when he spoke. “Just shut up and kiss me already.”

Harry took the golden chain of Draco’s robes and pulled him into a kiss.

His lips were soft and hot and tasted better than anything Harry had even tasted.

Neither Harry nor Draco noticed the snow was beginning to fall around them.

They had better things to do.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Happy Christmas y'all ;)  
> Kudos and comments are <3  
> Come and say hello on [Tumblr](https://bloodyflammable.tumblr.com/)!


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